6 #HEInsiders Offer Their Very Best Higher Ed Advice

We’re talking about the future of higher education — won’t you join us?

Rising student debt. Backlash to one-size-fits-all approaches to education. Diminishing alumni contributions. Let’s be honest — now can be a tough time to work in higher education.

There’s a shift going on in higher education, impacting everything from admissions to alumni relations. With the game changing so drastically, higher ed professionals are on the hunt for new ideas, strategies, and solutions to help their schools innovate.

So where do these new ideas come from? Enter Higher Ed Insiders!
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You’re Invited to Higher Ed Insiders!

Chat one-on-one with the top minds in talent June 22 at 2pm ET.

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We’ve gathered some of the best minds in higher education to offer advice, talk about emerging trends, and engage in conversations that matter — not from a podium or in the form of a slide deck, but in one-on-one discussions with YOU.

As a sneak peek, some of our Insiders participated in a mini “Asked and Answered” — read on for their best higher ed advice, opinions on emerging trends, and what topics are really inspiring to them right now:

Barbara Fritze

VP Enrollment and Educational Services, Gettysburg College

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

“Try to find ways to say ‘Yes’ when considering new ideas.”

What topic are you most excited about discussing and why?

Using technology to reinforce customization and personalization in the admissions process.

What do you think is the most exciting trend in higher ed right now?

New technologies in admission and predictive modeling.

Tim Mansfield

AVP Advancement & Alumni Relations, Colgate University

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

“Put your head down and work hard; recognition and opportunity will follow.”

What topic are you most excited about discussing and why?

Technology and Alumni Engagement — we are experiencing the infancy of virtual technology and connecting with alumni digitally. We need to adapt to changing pathways of communication, all to drive people back to campus for interpersonal exchanges and to support the university.

What do you think is the most exciting trend in higher ed right now?

Online learning — how to reap the benefits of the information highway while strengthening the value of faculty/student learning and debate.

Fred Weiss

President & CEO, iModules

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

“Try to understand motivation.”

What topic are you most excited about discussing and why?

The longer view of constituent engagement. We tend to get really focused on the milestones — reunion weekend, giving days, end of the fiscal or calendar year, for example — but we need to understand how these fit into the long-term view of engagement goals and the lifecycle of the constituent.

What do you think is the most exciting trend in higher ed right now?

Mobile apps — but there appears to be a slow pace of adoption by advancement offices of mobile apps for their constituents.

Xavier Romano

VP Student Services, Eastern Oregon University

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

“Be forever mindful of the socio-cultural environment that one is operating in.”

What topic are you most excited about discussing and why?

The “internationalization” of diversity, which is no longer a North American construct.

What do you think is the most exciting trend in higher ed right now?

The manifestation of “diversity” or the lack thereof in American higher ed relative to evolving demographic realities of our society/country.

Jeff Smith

Executive Director, Penn State World Campus Operations

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

“WIN (What’s Important Now)”

What topic are you most excited about discussing and why?

The future of higher education and technology.

What do you think is the most exciting trend in higher ed right now?

Personalized learning.

Maya Georgieva

Learning Innovations and Digital Strategy, Digital Bodies

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

“Always remain curious.” Perhaps one of the ways to summarize this is — be present, be an active listener, and stay open-minded.

What topic are you most excited about discussing and why?

My work at the moment is focused on bringing about innovation in education, answering the question, “How do we re-imagine education in a highly networked and deeply complex world?” I am excited to be thinking through ways to design new learning experiences that empower students with the affordance of new digital and social tools.

What do you think is the most exciting trend in higher ed right now?

It is hard to identify a single trend as there many exciting developments in Higher Ed. The trends that intrigue me the most are: opening new models like nano degrees and integrating experiential learning across disciplines deeper into the curriculum; introducing makerspaces; exploring Virtual and Augmented Reality to create truly immersive experiences; and introducing blockchain systems into Higher Ed business models.

I am very excited about the opportunities for students to spend less time in the traditional classroom and more time out in the world, solving real problems … I think our conceptions of work, learn and play are about to be completely rethought and will become much more interrelated and interconnected. Nano degrees as well as studies through participation in course work outside of the traditional university framework will allow students to acquire high demand skill sets quickly that will allow them to enter specific job markets for which existing college degrees fail short.

Further, drawing upon the concept of a blockchain ecosystem can completely democratize and revolutionize learning. The idea of learning and counting hours of learning in small bite-size segments will offer new opportunities for learners. I think that the most important question for institutions of higher education is to re-think their place in 21st century.

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